Analysis Of Touching Spirit Bear

Banishment Essay

After reading the story, Touching Spirit Bear, I learned that the main character, Cole Matthews, is a stubborn, ill-tempered, bully that enjoys watching others suffer and or go through pain. Infact, it is is stubborn, ill-tempered, bullying ways that lands him in his very own jail cell at the age of fifteen. “He was an innocent-looking, baby-faced fifteen-year-old from Minneapolis who had been in trouble with the law half his life.” (pg. 5 Touching Spirit Bear) This piece of information is very important because this leads up to his proper punishment, but if I am correct that quote states that he has been in trouble with the law since he was seven and a half. Finally at the age of fifteen they figured out how to get through

to him and that was by sending him to a remote island in Alaska. “Nothing could be further from the truth. To Cole, this was just another big game.” (pg. 5 Touching Spirit Bear) All through Cole’s life he is given chances to change, in my opinion, one too many chances, but if his parents knew how to raise him properly, this wouldn’t be going on in the first place. The question, Did banishment fail Cole or did Cole fail himself, is very clear to me about which one I will choose and that is how Cole failed himself. Cole can choose who to be, the type of person who doesn’t care or the type of person that does, but if Cole hadn’t beat Peter up or done any of the things he did, he wouldn’t be in the situation he is in now, which is why you and I will discuss why he failed himself.

As I look down upon my organizer, I am noticing one of the questions really sticks out, and that question is, Were Cole’s actions his responsibility, and the answer is oh, so clear.

Yes, he is responsible for his actions. Everyone has a conscience that acts as a so called ‘voice’ that leads them to do right things or wrong things, but in my opinion, your conscience is just you deciding whether or not to do something on your own. Cole didn’t have to steal from stores, and he didn’t have to beat Peter up. He didn’t have to do any of it and now his actions are his responsibility. “The kid, Peter Driscal, was a ninth grader Cole had picked on many times before just for the fun of it. Still, no one ratted on Cole Matthews without paying the price. That day, he caught up to Peter in the hallway at school. ‘You’re a dead man,’ he warned the skinny red-haired boy, giving him a hard shove. He laughed when he saw the fear in Peter’s eyes.” (pg. 7, Touching Spirit Bear) Cole didn’t have to do that, but he did anyway. If Cole only knew how to take responsibility for his actions or not even do them at all, life would be great for the characters in the story. But, if you were wondering, obviously if someone like Cole beat other kids up, their had to be someone or something making him behave like this. Like maybe someone was picking on him? Clearly we know it is not someone at his school, “He hated being called Champ. And he hated being touched. Nobody ever touched him except to hit him.

That’s how it had been as long as he could remember.” (pg. 11, Touching Spirit Bear) At school you can tell he is the alpha bully, the most dangerous, not someone you should hanging out with, but what about at home? Clearly no one else would dare rat out Cole Matthews, but what about at home, where his parents are the tyrants. “You drink until you can’t stand up, and you’re gone all the time. A devoted parent doesn’t whip his kid until a shirt can’t hide all the bruises!” (pg. 46, Touching Spirit Bear) This quote leads into my next paragraph, this is Cole standing up to his father during Circle justice. Now you can see that Cole’s actions were his responsibility, but his father's beatings and just being ignored by his parents ignited a lot of it.

As you read in the last paragraph, I wanted to touch up on the question, Is anybody or anything else responsible for the outcome, and I guess you can say yes and no.

Clearly you saw the reason for Cole’s actions, being beat by his father and being ignored by both his parents. I still think Cole is responsible for his own actions because he could chose to be good and get attention, but he chose bad to get attention. But his parents definitely had at least a small part in the way Cole acts now, if they were more loving to him and actually knew how to discipline him the right way, like you're grounded for three weeks with no television or something instead of being him, maybe that would teach him a lesson. I mean I get that people are busy and they have work and everything, but you should always make time for your kids and your family. “‘Yes, Mr. Matthews, this is about responsibility. By the way, when is your son’s birthday?’ Cole’s father gulped a quick breath, and his face grew flushed. ‘Uh, well… birthdays have never been a very big thing around our house,’ he stammered. “I think it’s the beginning of July sometime.’” (pg. 52, Touching Spirit Bear) This just proves how badly Cole is treated at home. Obviously his dad drinks so much that he can’t remember the small, but important things. I’m pretty sure that every parent should at least know their kids birthday, even if they don’t love them 100%, which I find absolutely heart shattering. I also feel like destiny or fate had

a part in this, because if Cole hadn’t got in trouble for stealing or slamming Peter’s head into a sidewalk, he never would have seen the Spirit bear. “Then something large and white broke the smooth pattern of the shoreline. He squinted, and the image cleared. A bear. A white bear.” (pg. 44, Touching Spirit Bear) This bear I think is what leads Cole to be more at peace in his mind, because physically he may not be okay, but mentally he would be fine, as long as he could change his ways from hurting to caring. So that’s why I think fate or destiny had a part in his outcome, it’s kind of funny when you think of fate or destiny because you don’t know which path it will choose for you, but sometimes you should make your own path and do what’s right, unlike Cole, but he desperately needed to know that he was loved, and that he was part of the world and was there for a reason.

Well you might think that the circle didn’t punish Cole correctly, but that leads me to my next question, Is the Circle responsible for not properly punishing Cole? No, I think that the circle did the right thing by sending Cole to this island in Alaska, because at the very beginning of the story Cole is the big bad wolf to the three little pigs, but toward the the end of the book Cole is a new person, one that wants to change for the better. “A strange thought occurred to Cole: the world was beautiful. Yes, the world was beautiful!” (pg. 96-97, Touching Spirit Bear) This is not something that the old Cole would have thought. I think the circle did a marvelous job, with help of the Spirit Bear of course. If Cicle Justice hadn’t sent Cole to the island, Cole would never have known about the Spirit bear, the Spirit bear wouldn’t have taught Cole that he was a part of the world and that he was needed, like a piece to a huge puzzle, you can’t finish it without all the pieces and Cole would never have become the person he is becoming to be. So that is why I think Circle Justice did the right thing with sending Cole to the island.

In conclusion, you can see now why I think Cole failed himself. But just because someone fails him or herself doesn’t mean that they can’t change or try again. So in the end I think it is best to say that Cole changed thanks to Circle Justice and all it’s members, along with the Spirit Bear, who helped Cole find his true self.